Instructions
1. Read “The Doctors Opinion” and Chapters 2 – 3 in the AA Big Book. Highlight the places in the book where you find important concepts:
Powerlessness
Physical Allergy – The phenomenon of craving; The drink or drug gives the alcoholic or addict a much more powerful effect than others, so much so that he cannot (predictably) stop or moderate once he starts. The alcoholic or addict has lost the ability to control his drinking or using.
Mental Obsession – The alcoholic or addict has such a deep desire for the effect of alcohol or drugs that he cannot stop thinking about it or resist it. This compulsion drives him so blindly that he will stop at nothing until it is satiated. The alcoholic or addict has lost the power of choice in drink or drug.
Mental Blank Spot – The inability to see the consequences or bring them to mind with sufficient force to stop. The alcoholic or addict does not have the power to stop his drinking or using.
Unmanageability
External Unmanageability – Problems managing circumstances: personal relationships, finances, jobs, law abidance, possessions, health, livelihood, home etc.
Internal Unmanageability – Problems managing feelings: deep desires, obsessions, dependencies, excitability, resentments, spiritual malady, soul sickness, depression, emptiness, lack of joy, shame, guilt, blame, etc.
Perspective Unmanageability – Problems managing the truth due to old ideas, old belief systems, poor conceptions, selfish motives, flawed values, rationalization, self-centeredness, self-deception, denial, delusion, dishonesty.
2. Consider (or write) personal examples of how you are powerless.
3. Consider (or write) personal examples of how your life is unmanageable.
4. Consider (or write) the following admissions:
• I fully concede to my innermost self that I am alcoholic (or addict); that I am powerless over alcohol (or my addiction) as described in the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous.
• I fully concede to my innermost self that my life is unmanageable.
• I fully concede to my innermost self that the disease is chronic, progressive, and fatal.
• I have no reservation or lurking notion that I will ever be able to drink (or use) safely again.
• I believe that I must have a psychic change, that I have a disease that only a spiritual experience will conquer.
First Step Prayer
God, I admit that I am powerless over my addiction.
I admit that my life is unmanageable when I try to control it.
Help me this day to understand the true meaning of powerlessness.
